Bockchain’s appeal centres around its decentralised, high-speed, low-cost and immutable nature. A block is a collection of timestamped, peer-reviewed data that is managed and verified by its participants rather than by a centralised authority. Because a block can only store a finite amount of data (blocks), new blocks need to be created, thus making a chain of blocks – hence the term ‘blockchain’. The original intention of this technology centred around a medium of exchange and recording transactions. These transactions are conducted and recorded occur in seconds, with low transaction fees. More recently however, the expectations of its scope have blown the door wide open to other disciplines, including intellectual property.
